The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) Release 8 (Rel-8) standard for wireless communication systems has recently been finalized, supporting bandwidths up to 20 megahertz (MHz). LTE and High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) are sometimes called “third generation” (3G) communication systems and are currently being standardized by the 3GPP. The LTE specifications can be seen as an evolution of the current wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) specifications.
According to the 3GPP LTE protocol, handovers from one cell to another cell are performed in various circumstances. It is known in the art to hand over a user equipment (UE) from the current serving cell to another neighboring cell when the signal strength from the serving cell drops and the signal strength from the neighboring cell rises above the signal strength from the serving cell plus an offset value.